When American field athlete Tommie Smith walked to the platform
after breaking a 200m world record at the 1968 Summer sports competition in
Mexico City, he made history for not one but two reasons. In his left hand was
a PUMA Suede that he placed on the victory stand, and he raised his right fist
as a salute to human rights. Smith won a million heart for that. And the Suede,
too, went on to become an all-time favorites.
The Suede has swag.I treasured those shoes and took them
to the victory stand because they reminded me of me. They were annoyingly
strong, ordinary, and dark,” Smith, who is touted to be the first to bring the
Suede to a global platform, said.
The making of an icon
increasingly since the Suede made a debut in 1968, it has
been worn by legends the world over. In the 1970s, PUMA launched ‘The Clyde’,
after former US basketball player Walt ‘Clyde’ Frazier request the brand for a
wider version of the Suede. This shoe became so popular that nearly two million
pairs were sold in one year alone.Nearly a decade later, Suedes became an
integral part of the hip-hop movement. Legendary street photographer Jamel
Shabazz was involved in popularising the Suede during this time. The Suede even
feature in the 1984 American movie ‘Beat Street’, which is about an aspiring DJ
from New York City. This was moreover when Suedes, with their unmatched style
and authenticity, inadvertently became great sneakers for B-Boy collectives
like the New York City waves and the Rock firm Crew.
In the 90s and 00s, the Suede continual to be the shoe of
choice for a lot of peoplefrom punk rockers to rappers, B-Boys to street
artists. Cut to recent times, and the Suede is still a favourite among all
creativesfrom style icon Kylie Jenner to hip-hop duo Rae Sremurrd and rap
artist Young Thug. In 2015, Puma even partnered with singer-songwriter Rihanna
in to assemble the Rihanna Suede Creeper, a classic that grabbed everybody’s eyeballs.
The PUMA Suede is evergreen. With its sleek silhouette and
comfort superiority, it has always appealed to everybody.
A toast to legends
On November 5, PUMA produced Suede Gullyan edgy,
multi-lingual music video featuring over 50 Indian street artists. With 5
million views on Facebook and over 4 million on YouTube, the video has taken
the internet by storm.
As 2018 marks the Suede’s 50th centenary, PUMA has partnered
with brands and icons in music, fashion, street, and pop culture to introduce 50
exceptional drops of the classic silhouette.
“The Suede simply represent what we at PUMA stand for as a
brand. Taking a standard and making it a must-have. Being iconic,” says Helmut
Fischer, PUMA’s chief archivist.
